The Attraction of Color for Active Attention-Problem Children

Abstract

The optimal stimulation theory proposes that attention disordered hyperactive children are less tolerant than their normal peers of rote, minimally stimulating tasks and thus should more readily attend to color added to such tasks. Due to this attentional selectivity, color added to relevant features should produce improved performance, especially for this group. To test this hypothesis, 17 children, rated high in attention and activity problems, were matched on the basis of age and performance to 17 controls. Matched pairs were randomly assigned to stimulation order (colored stimuli first and black stimuli second session or the reverse order) and to level of emphasis-placement (emphasis added to relevant letter parts or added to randomly selected letter stimuli) counterbalanced for stimulation order. Findings in support of the theory were that attention-problem children performed better with color emphasis placed on relevant detail than when it was assigned to randomly selected letters. Differential responding was significant for experimental but not control children.